news that one of her donors was a criminal… and had died in an operation to arrest him.
But she’d heard. Already reporters had been on to her and asked for a statement, in light of the fact that Green Way was heavily involved with the Mafia and the Camorra (Bond reflected that the grass did not grow beneath the feet of the ‘misinformation chaps at Six’).
Felicity was furious that some journalists were suggesting she’d known there was something disreputable about him but that she’d been happy to take his donations anyway. ‘How the bloody hell could they ask that, Gene? For heaven’s sake, Hydt gave us fifty or sixty thousand pounds a year, which was generous but nothing compared to what a lot of people donate. I’d drop anyone in an instant if I thought they were up to something illegal.’ Her voice softened. ‘But you’re all right, aren’t you?’
‘I wasn’t even there when they raided the place. The police rang me and asked a few questions. That’s all. Hell of a shock, though.’
‘I’m sure it was.’
Bond asked how the deliveries were going. She told him that the tonnage was even higher than had been pledged. Distribution was already under way to ten different countries in sub-Saharan Africa. There was enough food to keep hundreds of thousands of people fed for months.
Bond congratulated her, then said, ‘You’re not too busy for Franschhoek?’
‘If you think you’re getting out of our weekend in the country, Gene, you’d better think again.’
They made plans to meet in the morning. He reminded himself to find someone to wash and polish the Subaru, for which he’d formed some affection, despite the flashy colour and the largely cosmetic spoiler on the boot.
After they’d disconnected, he sat back, relishing the cheer in her voice. Relishing, too, the memory of the time they’d spent together. And thinking of the future.
Smiling, he flicked her card, then put it away and pulled on the gloves once more to continue ploughing through the documents and computers, jotting notes about Green Way’s offices and the Gehenna operation for M and Bill Tanner. He laboured for an hour or so until he decided it was time for a drink.
He stretched luxuriously.
He then paused and slowly lowered his arms. At that moment he had felt a jolt deep within him. He knew the sensation. It arose occasionally in the world of espionage, that great landscape of subtext where so little is as it seems. Often the source for such an unsettling stab was a suspicion that a basic assumption had been wrong, perhaps disastrously so.
Staring at his notes, he heard himself breathing fast, his lips dry. His heartbeat quickened.
Bond flipped through hundreds of documents again, then grabbed his mobile and emailed Philly Maidenstone a priority request. As he waited for her reply he rose and paced in the small office, his mind inundated with thoughts, hovering and swooping like the frantic seagulls over Disappearance Row at Green Way.
When Philly responded he snatched up his mobile and read the message, sitting back slowly in the uncomfortable chair.
A shadow fell over him. He looked up and found Bheka Jordaan standing there. She was saying, ‘James, I brought you some coffee. In a proper mug.’ It was decorated with the smiling faces of the players from Bafana Bafana in all their football finest.
When he said nothing and didn’t take it, she set it down. ‘James?’
Bond knew his face betrayed the alarm burning within him. After a moment he whispered, ‘I think I got it wrong.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Everything. About Gehenna, about Incident Twenty.’
‘Tell me.’
Bond sat forward. ‘The original intelligence we had was that someone named Noah was involved in the event today – the event that would result in all those deaths.’
‘Yes.’ She sat next to him. ‘Severan Hydt.’
Bond shook his head. He waved at the boxes of documents from Green Way. ‘But I’ve been through nearly every damn piece of paper and most of the mobiles and computers. There isn’t a single reference to Noah in any of it. And in all my meetings with Hydt and Dunne there was no reference to the name. If that
Jordaan said, ‘Information embedded in computer files. We convicted a government minister of corruption because of it.’
He nodded at his phone. ‘My colleague looked at the half-dozen Internet references we found that mentioned Hydt’s nickname was Noah. The metadata in every one of them showed they were written and uploaded this week.’
‘Just like
‘Exactly. The real Noah did that to keep us focused on Hydt. Which means Incident Twenty – the thousands of deaths –
Despite the success at Green Way, he was back to the vital questions once more: who was his enemy and what was his purpose?
Until he answered those enquiries, he couldn’t form a response.
Yet he had to. There was little time left.
confirm incident friday night, 20th, estimated initial casualties in the thousands…
‘James?’
Fragments of facts, memories and theories spiralled through his mind. Once again, as he’d done in the bowels of Green Way’s research facility, he began to assemble all the bits of information he possessed, trying to put back together the shredded blueprint of Incident Twenty. He rose and, hands clasped behind his back, bent forward, as he looked over the papers and notes covering the desk.
Jordaan had fallen silent.
Finally he whispered, ‘Gregory Lamb.’
She frowned. ‘What about him?’
Bond didn’t answer immediately. He sat down again. ‘I’ll need your help.’
‘Of course.’
65
‘What’s the matter, Gene? You said it was urgent.’
They were alone in Felicity Willing’s office at the charity in downtown Cape Town, not far from the club where they’d met at the auction on Wednesday night. Bond had interrupted a meeting involving a dozen men and women, aid workers instrumental in the food deliveries, and asked to see her alone. He now swung her door closed. ‘I’m hoping you can help me. There aren’t many people in Cape Town I can trust.’
‘Of course.’ They sat on her cheap sofa. In black jeans and a white shirt, Felicity moved closer to Bond. Their knees touched. She seemed even more tired than yesterday. He recalled she’d left his room before dawn.
‘First, I have to confess something to you. And, well, it may affect our plans for
